two men.

Yesterday I talked to two of the friendliest and happiest men alive.

Man number 1 walked by me in the hallway of the Wilk. He said "good morning" and I asked how he was doing. He responded and asked me the same. As he walked ahead of me he wished me "an absolutely fantastic day". He then paused at the door and opened it for me. I watched him in awe as he continued to say "good morning" to every person he passed and to wish many of them to "have an absolutely fantastic day" as well.

Man number 2 works at the information desk in the SAB with his wife. I stopped to get a poster of the BYU men's volleyball team and he began to tell me about how he and his wife have been to over 860 BYU football and basketball games. One year they were honored by the basketball team as the fans of the year (or something like that). And they got to travel with the team to Australia. We talked about BYU sports a little longer, and then he asked me what grade I was in school, and then if I'd found a rich man to marry. He said CTR stands for 3 things: Choose the right, Choose the rich and one more I can't remember right now. I told him that I've found a good boy that may be able to provide that for me. And he said "good. But remember, the most important thing is to be happy." He then told me that everyday that they are alive they choose to be happy because they aren't dead yet.

I hope that I can learn to have such a happy disposition as these two men.

McKinlee is going to be such a wonderful missionary. I was able to go to her farewell on Sunday, and man, the spirit is so prevalent with that girl. Her talk was so amazing, and got me crying, a lot. I think a few of the tears were out of jealousy that she is returning to Germany/Austria and maybe even Vienna itself, but I know another good chunk of those tears were because I know how GREAT she is going to be.

Ps. I donated blood today and one of the questions was: "have you been out of the US or Canada in the last year?" and I had to answer "no" and that broke my heart a little bit, to remember that it ACTUALLY has been that long.

Yoasis

this was so great. definitely one of my favorite things to do.

self improvement goals:

emotional:
-be more rational and patient during IR
-fall more and more in love with Nate

financial:
-pay my tithing twice a month (after each pay check)
-save as much money as possible

mental:
-get at least a 3.25 GPA each semester/term
-graduate in December

physical:
-exercise for an hour or more, at least 2 to 3 times a week (most likely running or biking)
-bite fingernails less (don't bite them at all)
-floss teeth every other day
-don't pick at my split ends

spiritual:
-read scriptures more
-attend the temple at least once a month
-read my patriarchal blessing at least once a month

ps. i didn't go running today :( instead i took a 2 hour nap. oops.

any ideas on how to motivate myself to go running in this freezing weather?

• Yesterday was the first day of classes for Winter 2010. I had 3 classes today. CHum 210, Rel C234 and Germ 303, which computes to, instructional application programming, LDS marriage and family, and advanced German language 2. It was actually a good day. I think it will be a hard semester, but hopefully my being busy will just make the time till warm summer go even faster.
  
• Yesterday I saw a mother speaking with her young children. Telling them that "mommy used to go to school to become a teacher, but then she stopped". Her little boy responding "because you'd rather be a mommy?". It was adorable anyway. It made me think of when I was a little Girl Scout, probably a daisy or so and we were interviewed on a tape-recorder. The question was "what do you want to be when you're older?" and in my cute little innocent voice I responded "a mom"
  
• Yesterday I got a raise for a dollar twenty-five more than I've been making. That's right, lady's and gentleman, I am officially a student manager at Legend's Grille. Of course it comes with a few more responsibilities and I'm forced to work a Saturday closing shift, but that extra cash each pay check will make it totally worth it. I think I'll finally be able to save a little money, instead of just spending all that I make.

• Today was my second day of class. Now I have gone to all of my classes for the semester, except one that is only 2nd block. I definitely think the semester will be do-able. I may have to work a little harder than I'd like to, but I think I'll manage. I'll make Nate go to the library with me if I have to.
• Today was my second day of work too. It was funny today because one of my coworkers asked if I was a legitimate student manager now and of course I responded yes, but throughout the shift he kept calling my 'Manager Aimee'. And since I am a manager I am responsible to make sure people stay on task and I even have to assign people to do the yucky prep jobs, like pressing burgers. That part might take some getting used to, because I'm not usually a huge 'take-charge' kind of girl.
• Today Nate and I are making burgers for dinner. It'll be good cause it'll remind me of summer fun. And it'll be tasty too because we're putting brown sugar bacon on the burgers. We've only tried that once before, but it was maybe the best burger I've ever had.

• Tomorrow is Wednesday, my third day of classes, and no work tomorrow. I'm excited to finish my day tomorrow at 1:00. Hopefully that means I'll spend the rest of the afternoon catching up on the reading assignments I've already missed (because I didn't have the books yet)
• Tomorrow I want to exercise. I was doing so well last semester until I got sick and then with the freezing cold weather it was really hard to convince myself to walk on campus to use the track or a treadmill. So I haven't ran in at least a month :/ But since I finish classes so early tomorrow and I don't work tomorrow, I don't have a good excuse anymore.

...

I really want to write something special since I have so much free time and should be able to think of something clever. But I just can't seem to:

1. I love my niece Zoe Noelle Garrett. I've loved seeing her pretty much everyday since she's been born, and she's already grown so much. I will be a little sad when I can't see her as often cause we're all much busier with work and school resuming. Today I got to hold and cuddle her for a bit while she was sleeping and I absolutely loved it. I have so much love for this child, I can't even how much greater it will be one day with my own.



2. It's about 2 days and 12 hours more till I get to see Nate again. I'm picking him up from the airport. 2 weeks apart is WAY too long, and I hope I never have to do that again. Though we have had fun being able to SKYPE with each other each night.

3. I watched the Hannah Montana movie tonight and I really liked it. It was a little cheesy, but the plot line was decent, and I'll confess I love singing along to her music. It even made me cry, though that's not to hard to do, but it was really good, really sweet and touching.

4. My parents were wonderful to get me a knew camera for Christmas. Of course I don't NEED one, especially since I technically now own 4 cameras (but one of those is film and in a drawer at home, and another is here in my apartment in a box somewhere). But its a nice Nikon SLR camera. Its a few years old, but my mom got it for an AMAZING price at work and I love it and I'm so excited to see the masterpieces I'll be able to create.



5. Its snowed way too much today and as far as I know its still snowing. I know, its not as much as the blizzard that was on the east coast a week and a half ago, but its about 3 or 4 inches now and its cold and wet. And I finally made my first snow angel of the year, but that's about the only good side of the snow. I'm ready for it to be March and to welcome in the spring time and welcome back Mr. Sun.

Sorry, it definitely wasn't a creative post. But that's my life, not creative, and these are my thoughts for now.